Mike Luckovich received the top honor of his profession when he won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. The prize committee praised his work for its creativity and effectiveness.

The Pulitzer is only the latest in a long line of awards for the 33-year-old cartoonist, however. Luckovich was a runner-up for the award in 1987. In 1989, he won the Overseas Press Club’s award for the “Best Cartoons on Foreign Affairs for 1989,” and in 1991, he was awarded the National Headliners award for editorial cartoonists.

A Luckovich cartoon was selected by voters in a Newsweek magazine poll as one of the four best editorial cartoons of 1994.

After freelancing and selling life insurance to make ends meet following his graduation from the University of Washington in 1982, Luckovich landed his first cartooning job at the Greenville News in South Carolina. After nine months at the News, Luckovich was hired by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where he stayed for four years before moving on to Atlanta.